Draft-rigging joint connection for car-couplings.



` No. 769,065. t 'PATENTED AUG. so, 1904,

U. s. DRAYBR.

O DRAFT RIGGING JOINT CONNECTION FOR OAR OOUPLINGS. APPLICATION FILED 11011.12, 1903. No MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

. l n &

tforney PATBNTBD AUG. 30, 1904.

/ O U. s. DRAYBR.

DRAFT RIGGINO. JOINT OONNEOTION POR OAR OOUPLINOS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12,1903.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented August 30, 1904.

PATENT OEEicE.

DRAFT-HIGGINS. JQINTCONNEGTION FOR CAR-COUPLINGS.

SPECIFICATION fOI'ming part Of Letters Patent No. I769,065, dated. August 30, 1904. l

Application filed NOVembl' 12, 1903. Serial No. 180,841, (No model.)

ing is a specification.

This invention relates to railway draft appliances,and has special reference to the means for connecting the car-coupler with the draftrigging.

To this end the invention primarily has in view an improved type of joint connection forcoupling the draw-bar of an automatic or other car-coupler with the draft-rigging.

TIO

In carrying 'out the'invention the same has specially in view the provision of a joint connection of the ball-and-socket type, which is utilized as the meansrfor connecting the rigid draw-bar of the car-coupler with the draftrigging, lwhereby the cushioning or bufer action of the rigging is not interfered with,

while at the Sametime the draw-bar, and hence v the entire car-coupler, is permitted to freely swing to either side in alateral direction upon a vertical axis and alsoto rock or oscillate axially. `By reason of this movement provided for through the medium of the improved joint the car-coupler will freely accommodate itself to curves or rocking vibrations Without straining or otherwise impairing the draft-rigging.

In the ordinary types of draft-rigging connections for car-couplers noprovision is made to accommodate rocking or oscillating vibrations imparted to the draw-bar, and hence a wrenching or straining is frequently imposed directly upon the draft-rigging. This is obviated by the present invention, which, furthermore, provides an arrangement which enables long vcars to easily round curves without imposing undue stress on the rigging.

With these and many other objects in view, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel construction, combina-- tion, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

The essential feature of the invention 4involved in the double type of ball-and-socket joint providing for the lateral swinging and axial rocking of the draw-bar is susceptible,-

to structural modiiication without departing from the scope of the invention; but a preferred embodiment of the latter is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aside elevation, partly in section, of a draft-rigging and car-coupler united l through the medium of the improved balland-socket joint connection contemplated by the present invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the joint or joint connection, the line of section being longitudinal of the rigid draw-bar of the car-coupler. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross -sectional view of the joint or joint connection on the line 4 4 of.

Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view on the line A B of Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are halfsectional views in thesame plane as Figs. 2

' and 3, but illustrating a construction omitting the metallic wear-cups interposed between the contact-faces ofthe bearing-ball segments and the socket bearing-blocks cooperating therewith.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In utilizing the improved 'joint for connecting the draw-har of .the car-coupler with the draft-rigging of the car no special change is involved in the construction and mounting of the draft-rigging nor in the construction and operation of the coupler, which latter is preferably of the automatic type, as the invention possesses special utilityin connection therewith. Hence for illustrative purposes there is shown in the drawings an ordinary automatic car-coupler designated by the numeral l and which embodies in its organization the usual rigid draw-bar 2, extending beneath the car-body and designed to have a coupled connection With the draft-rigging. This draftrigging includes a buffer device (designated -in embodies the usual means to provide for resisting and cushioning the longitudinal thrust of the draw-bar during the car-coupling operation. The said buffer device 3 is provided at its outer end with the usual follower-head 4, receiving the initial impact or. thrust of the IOO draw-,bar and yielding therewith in the direction of such thrust, said follower-head 4 being arranged to lie at the extreme inner end of .the rigid draw-bar 2, as plainly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. In addition to the buffer device 3 the draft-rigging includes the draftrigging yoke 5, embodying the upper and lower longitudinally-disposed bar members 6, provided at their outer extremities with the inturned holding ianges or lugs 7, which assist in properly securing in place the upper and lower socket bearing-blocks 8 and 9, which cooperate with the joint-head 10 at the inner end of the draw-bar to provide a double balland-socket -joint connection between such draw-bar and the draft-rigging. The jointhead 10 at the inner end of the draw-bar 2 is a rigid part of the latter and is preferably formed integral therewith. The said head essentially consists of a ball body or enlargement which is designed to constitute the ball element of a universal or ball-and-socket joint which provides the connection between the draw-bar and the draft-rigging, and said ball body or enlargement is usually cast in a hollow formation with a plurality of interior inwardly-projecting strengthening-ribs 11, located therein and providing sufiicient reinforcement for the whole body to enable it to stand the strain to which the same may be subjected.

The essential parts of the ball-body constituting the joint head 10 are the elements thereof which provide, in connection with the Socket bearing-blocks 8 and 9, a double balland-socket joint, and to this end the jointhead or ball-body is formed, at the upper and lower sides thereof, with the upper and lower bearing-ball segments 12 and 13,.respectivel y, which segments are the active ball members of the head and have a bearing lit in the upper and lower blocks 8 and 9. Said bearingball segments 12 and 13 are necessarily segments of the same circle, and to provide for accomplishing the movement contemplated by the present invention the joint-head is also constructed at the upper and lower sides thereof with the deeply-channeled upper and lower bearing-recesses 14 and 15, respectively, of greater depth than the elevation or projection of the segments 12 and 13 in order to receive therein the active portions of the socket bearing-blocks 8 and 9. rlhe bearingball segments are therefore located within and constitute the bases of the recesses 14 and 15, and at this point it is to be observed that in a direction longitudinal of the draw-bar the said recesses are substantially of the same width as the socket bearing-blocks fitting therein; but in a transverse direction, as plainly shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, the recesses 14 and 15 are of greater width than the transverse width of the said blocks 8 and 9, whereby a restricted axial rocking or wrist-like movement is provided for the draw-bar and the joint-head carried thereby. It will also be observed that the inner walls of the bearing-recesses 14 and 15 are preferably curved, as indicated at 1b', to conform to the correspondingly curved or conveXed side faces or edges 17 of the socket bearing-blocks to insure an easy bearing between the joint-head and the bearing-blocks in the rocking or axial movement of the head. To complete the ball-and-socket-joint bearing, the upper and lower socket bearing-blocks 8 and 9 are provided at their inner faces with the eoncaved ball-seats 18, with which conform the bearing-ball segments 12 and 13 of the joint-head.

Various expedients may be resorted to for properly connecting the parts together to maintain them in relative working positions; buta preferable construction is shown in the drawings and consists, primarily, in the employment of a plurality of joint-retaining sleeves 19, flanged or otherwise secured in the sleeve-openings 20, provided in the upper and lower socket bearing-blocks 8 and 9. While any desired number of these joint-retainingl sleeves may be employed, still the preferable construction embodies a pair of these sleeves arranged in the plane of the longitudinal center of the joint connection and extending vertically from one socket bearin gblock to the other, thereby providing a retaining connection for holdii'ig the ball-andsocket members of the joint in operative relation at all times. 1n addition to retainingsleeves for the joint members proper there are also preferably employed suitable fastenings for permanently securing the joint to the upper and lower bar members of the draftrigging element. rlhese fastenings preferably consist of the headed pins or bolts 21, passed longitudinally through the sleeves 19 and secured in openings 22, provided in the upper and lower bar members 6 and 7 of the draft-rigging element. To accomn'iodate the sleeves 19 and the fastenings 21 incased there'- in, the upper and lower ball-segments of the joint-head are provided with enlarged clearance-holes 23, which are of suiiicient size to accommodate the lateral swinging and axial rocking or wrist movement of the joint-head,

From the foregoing it is obvious that the car-coupler draw-bar 2 is free to swing upon the ball-joint laterally in both directions, and also it is capable of a rocking, oscillating, or axially-turning movement limited by the side stop abutments 24, which are formed by the opposite side walls of the recesses 14 and 15. These movements of the draw-bar do not interfere with the buffer or cushioning action of the draft-rigging, as inthe coupling operation the entire joint moves against the buil'er device 3.

While the construction already described and which is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 completely embodies the essential features of the invenllO lPatent, is

tion to permit of the joint movement of the ldraw-barreferred to, still the preferable and practical form of the joint or joint connection is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of thedrawings.v

Each of themetallic wear-cups 25 essentially comprises a concave-convex base-:section 26, which conformsto and closely registers with the convex surface of the ball-segment with which it is associated and the complementary concave seat 18 of the contiguous bearingblock, thus provid ing a `continuous'reinforced wear-surface between the ball-segment and its adjacent socket-block to provide for taking up the transverse Wear of the joint incident to the movement of the draw-bar. rIlhe outturned peripheral side-retaining flanges' 27 of each cup take over and embrace the convexed side faces or. ledges 17 of the socket bearing-block with which it is associated, and, as plainly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the wearcups are of the s ame transverse and longitudinal width asl the socket bearing-blocks, whereby the latter therefore maintain the wear-cups' in centered relation tothe axis of the'joint To further provide for the axial rocking or wrist-like movement of the couplershank, the faces X ofthe wear-cups, together with the faces 16 of the coupler-body 10, are made arcsof circles'concentricwith each other and centered at thecoupler-knuckle. Hence when pulling cars around sharp and reverse curves, the couplers being together, the point of contact between the knuckles of the couplers forms the center around which the outside faces X of the wear-cups revolve. connection with the oblong holes 23 in the .body 10, insure'a wrist-like movement, such to without departing from the spirit of thein-- vention or sacrificing any of theadvantages thereof. y

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters 1. In a joint of the class described, the combination of a draft-rigging yoke carrying up'- per andv lower bearing-blocks, the 'coupler draw-bar provided at its inner end with a rigid joint-head in the form of a ball-.body having upper and lower bearing portions'registering with said upper and lower bearing-blocks and retaining means' coupling the ball-body to the yoke.

' 2. In a vjoint of the class described, the com- This, iny

bination ofV a draft-rigging. yoke carryingiup- .per and lower bearing-blocks, andthe coupler draw-barprovided at its inner end with av rigid .i

and lower bearingmembers registering with lhead inthe form of a ball-body having upper i said upper and lower bearing-,blocks and also i purpose described 3. In a joint ofthe class described, the combination with the upper and lower members of the yoke lmembers and provided at their inner faces with coneaved ball-seats, the coup- Vvler draw-bar provided at its inner end with a' rigid joint-head in the form of a ball-body providedy with upper and lower bearing-ball cillation of the joint-head.

1, Ina joint of the class described, the combination with the upper 4and lower members of a draft-rigging yoke, of Lipper and lower socket bearing-blocks fitted to the inner sides of the yoke members and provided at their inner faces with concavedball-seats, the coupler draw-bar provided at its inner end with a rigid joint-head in the form of a ball-body provided with upper and lower bearing-ball segments registering respectively in the seats of the upper and lower socket bearing-blocks, and with upper and lower bearing-recesses receiving the blocks and of greater transverse width than the same to permit axial oscillationof the joint-head, a plurality of jointretaining sleeves connecting the upper and lower socket bearing-blocks and extending through clearance-openings in the joint-head,

and fastening-pins extending through the `sleeves and secured to' said upper and lower members of the draft-riggingyoke.

5. In a joint of the class described, the combination of the car-draft rigging carrying oppositely-arran,g1,'ed socket members, the coupvler draw-bar carryinga rigid ball member held between and common to both of the socket members, and metallic wear-cups interposed .between the working faces of the said ball-andsocket members.

6. In 'a joint of the class described, the comy bination of a car-draft rigging carrying opjpositely-arranged socket bearing-blocks the coupler draw-bar provided with arigid joint- 'head and having upper and lower bearing- ,ball segments and bearing-recesses about said segments, and flanged wear-cups embracing the socket bearing-blocks and having concavo-convex bases registering with the ballprovided with upper vand lower recesses receiv- .ing the said blocks,.substantially. as and for the of a draft-rigging yoke, of upper and lower socket bearing-blocks fitted to the inner sides IOO IIO

IZO

segments and the complementaryfaces of the socket bearing-blocks.

7. In a joint of the class described, the combination of the candiat rigging carrying opwhose center is located upon the coupler positely-arranged Socket bearing-blocks, the knuckle. 10 coupler draw-bar provided with a rigid joint- In testimony whereof l aliix my signature in head having upper and lowcI` bearing-hall presence of lwo witnesses.

5 segments, anged wear-cups carried by said ULYSSES S. DRAYER.

blocks and having concavo-convex bases rcgfitncssesz isnering with the ba11-segrnents and having (l. J. BARLEY,

the front and rear faces made concentric arcs, C. P. COWGILL. 

